Prelim Review: This has been a banner year for me as far as old-school fantasy adventurer novels go. I get to add THE HAMMER AND THE BLADE to the list and I'm certainly glad for it.

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In the simplest terms this book is about two friends (two somewhat shady, definitely reckless and utterly unrepentant in their derring-do's adventurer friends) who's one last heist before they retire to a semi-respectable life brings about unforeseen consequences to trouble their lives.

Nix is a master thief with a whole satchel of useful 'gee-gaws' and quite a bit of cleverness. He's always trying to look ahead, but tends to miss the smaller things in the process.

Egil is a warrior Priest for the The Momentary God...and possibly the only worshiper. Not overly abundant with clever schemes like Nix, he's amazingly resilient and a tank in fights.

I'm never actually sure just how serious either one is being--they tend to go back and forth so quickly it takes a couple seconds to catch up and realize 'oh dear lord he was serious!'. Their friendship and support is a welcome balance to the novel, it grounds the book and keeps it from becoming too cynical or dark. And this book gets dark, make no mistake the villain(s) of this piece do horrific things in the name of greed and power.

Kemp's writing is quick, well paced and exciting...at least as far as when Egil and Nix are on the page. The sections devoted to Rakon and his machinations made me more than faintly queasy; when the full scope of the horror the Norristru men visited upon their own is made clear, I felt even worse. How anyone could do such a thing...well. Its disturbing.

I am of two minds in how Egil and Nix dealt with Rakon in the end. Its really no more than he deserved, but it drove home the fact we're not dealing with two guys who are saints. They're just as affected by their emotions and notions of right vs wrong as anyone else. Though it was heartening that they would face the consequences together if any came their way.

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I'm not much of a fantasy novel type simply because of the overdone tropes but I wound up loving this story!

Looking back it's a pretty basic concept: Two rogue adventurers get in to trouble and things are't what they seem. Add in a couple damsels in distress and there you go. BUT once I actually sat down and got in to the story I was hooked by the depth of the characters. Witty writing, humor and realistic personalities shined through along with the twisting storytelling. the pacing was excellent with plenty of action so while the usual fantasy hallmarks were present they wove in very well.

I'm very likely to read the next book in the series which is very unlike my usual reading habits but that just attests to how unusually good I found this tory. ( )

I'm not much of a fantasy novel type simply because of the overdone tropes but I wound up loving this story!

Looking back it's a pretty basic concept: Two rogue adventurers get in to trouble and things are't what they seem. Add in a couple damsels in distress and there you go. BUT once I actually sat down and got in to the story I was hooked by the depth of the characters. Witty writing, humor and realistic personalities shined through along with the twisting storytelling. the pacing was excellent with plenty of action so while the usual fantasy hallmarks were present they wove in very well.

I'm very likely to read the next book in the series which is very unlike my usual reading habits but that just attests to how unusually good I found this tory. ( )

Egil and Nix are graverobbers -- think Indiana Jones, battling ancient curses and demons, etc. They get kidnapped by a sorcerer trying to extricate a horn from an ancient tomb so he can rescue a demonic figure to impregnate his sisters and preserve an ancient pact between the families. A fun buddy book, but missing the kind of character and plot complexity needed for a rating of 4 or more stars. 3.5 stars this one. Note: Seak (Bryce L.) did a great review for this book!! ( )

The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S. Kemp isn’t even out yet!

Plot Summary

The book follows Engil the Warrior Priest and Nix Fall the thief. Together they form an Indiana Jones/Brenden Frasier’s character in the Mummy type duo. They rely and help each other and together they make a really funny team. When they kill a demon they accidently piss off a man of the noble family who needed that demon to fulfill a pact that keeps his house in power. So then that noble kidnaps them and tells them that they need to steal a horn which will release an other, imprisoned demon.

What I Liked

I really liked the relationship between Engil and Nix-plus they were funny, i like funny characters
Almost all the characters were really well developed
i liked the random little twists
good action
good story
What I Didn’t Like

Some of the characters feel flat-mostly the bad guys
There were too many hints to back stories with little explanation (but there is a second book planned so maybe that’s where we’ll find it?)
Some of the other characters were more annoying than anything else
So I would give it 3 1/2 out of 5, and hopefully the next book will have more answers and better developed characters, though Engil and Nix do very well on their own.

Happy Readings

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